Rodin_2011

26. Portrait of Cambodian Female Dancer (Princess Sumphady?) (Portrait de danseuse cambodgienne (Princess Sumphady?) 190 6– 07 Graphite, watercolor, gouache, heightened with black pencil on wove paper Watermark: DALON LES-ANNONAY B CRAYON ACNE MANUFRE CANSON 13 x 10 inches ( 31 . 8 x 24 . 4 cm)  Signed at the bottom right: A. Rodin provenance Odilon Roche Collection ( 18 6 8 – 1947 ), one of the known forgers of Rodin; Curtis O. Baer collection since 1958 ; Private Collection. literature O. Grautoff, Auguste Rodin , Bielefeld / Leipzig, Velhagen und Klasing, 1908 , p. 97 ; A. Stieglitz, Camera Work , vol. 34 / 35 , 1911 , plate, repr.; E. Chase Geissbuhler, Rodin: Later drawings, wth interpretations by Antoine Bourdelle, Beacon Press, Boston, 19 6 3 , p. 41 , repr.; C. Buley-Uribe, After-Marseilles, in excat (dir. J. Vilain) Rodin and his Cambodian Dancers . His Last Passion) , Paris, Rodin Museum, 200 6, fig. 87 , p. 48 , illus. This portrait was executed on the occasion of the arrival of the Royal Khmer Dancers at the 190 6 Colonial Fair in Marseilles. Rodin had met them during a few exceptional performances which were organized in July in Paris, and was able to arrange posing sessions on July 12 , 190 6 at their residence on Avenue Malakoff. He produced approximately ten portraits of the king and his entourage, including this work. In her 19 6 3 book Rodin. Later Drawings, with interpretations by Antoine Bourdelle, Elisabeth Chase Geissbuhler published this drawing under the title King Sisowath of Cambodia. 1 We believe this is incorrect: Rodin always portrayed Sisowath bust-length and colored with gouache; and the king’s hands never appeared in his portraits. If this model does in fact have qualities of royalty– explaining why E. Chase Geissbuhler identified it as Sisowath’s portrait—it is because she is very likely a woman from the King’s entourage, probably a princess, perhaps his eldest daughter Sumphady who directed the troupe and had short hair similar to that of the other female dancers. Among all the portraits of this series, this is the only one to be treated with the same care as the portraits of Sisowath himself. It is similar to the king’s portrait that shows his bust in profile, the face turned towards the spectator (Paris, Rodin Museum, d444 6). We know two preparatory drawings for this portrait, made on the same sheet, in the collection of the Rodin Museum ( d4478 ). These sketches were probably made from life, while the portrait of the Curtis O. Baer Collection seems to have been executed later, perhaps in 1907 . Comparing the two sheets, one can see that the figure was progressively refined, even idealized, and placed in the center of the sheet. Rodin made a point to use a thick good quality paper, with a visible watermark. The gracious feminine left hand